


Full House

by arianapeterson19



Series: Avengers Shorts [116]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Big Brothers, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Hurt/Comfort, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Inspired by Full House (US), Kid Clint Barton, Kid Peter Parker, Kid Tony Stark, Minor Character Death, Off screen, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Uncle Bucky Barnes, Uncle Phil Coulson
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-20
Updated: 2020-07-22
Packaged: 2021-02-24 23:01:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22325881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arianapeterson19/pseuds/arianapeterson19
Summary: It was like the world was continuing on without acknowledging the loss of someone so important, so vitally important, and that was probably more cruel than anything else. Still, Steve knew that he would have rejoin that world eventually, he just wished his children didn't have to face it quiet yet.ORThe one where Steve's wife dies and it's basically Full House but probably more angsty because I'm cruel like that.
Series: Avengers Shorts [116]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/271549
Comments: 48
Kudos: 246
Collections: Kid Fic Avengers





	1. Just Us Now

“Well, it’s just us now,” sighed Steve, shutting the door behind his mother as she left.

It had been a month since Peggy, his wife, had been killed by a drunk driver when she had taken their middle son Tony out for ice cream. Peggy was big on making sure each kid felt special so she would take each kid on a date together about once a month. She wanted each to know that while they were part of a family unit they were also loved as an individual as well.

“Yeah,” sighed Clint, the ten year old, sitting on the couch with Peter, his baby brother, on his lap. “Just us.”

Tony, four (almost five as he would be quick to say before) was sitting on the floor, turning the pages of a book dully.

“Hey, it’s going to be fine,” said Steve with a fake smile. “We’re going to have lots of fun.”

There was a knock on the front door.

“Hello?” said Steve, opening the door, thinking his mother had forgotten something.

“Hey, I’m here,” announced Bucky, marching in and tossing Steve his duffle.

“Uncle Bucky!” yelled Clint, jumping up and running to give Bucky a hug.

“Clint! My man!” cheered Bucky, swinging Clint around in a circle, making the kid laugh. “Oh, I’ve missed you.”

“Missed you too!” said Clint, hugging Bucky back.

“Bucky, what are you doing here?” asked Steve, setting the duffle on the floor next to the door.

“Isn’t it obvious?” said Bucky, standing with Clint dangling under one arm. “I’m moving in with you lot. Let’s be real, you all would be lost without me.”

“Where are you going to sleep?” asked Clint, just accepting the fact that Bucky was moving in. “Oh, you could sleep in my room!”

“He’ll have to because I’m taking the guest room,” said another voice from the door.

Steve looked over, thinking he really needed to lock that door, and saw Phil, Peggy’s older brother there, with a suitcase and box and a smile.

“Uncle Phil!” yelled Clint, squirming out of Bucky’s grasp and running at his other uncle. “You’re moving in too?”

“I didn’t think you’d want your dad making dinner all the time,” said Phil with a grin.

“Alright boys, let’s go upstairs and play while your dad and Uncle Phil get things sorted,” said Bucky. 

Clint took Tony’s hand and dragged him upstairs while Bucky picked up little Peter and waved to Steve before following.

“Why are you here?” asked Steve when the boys were out of earshot.

“We’re here to help,” said Phil with a sad smile, sitting next to Steve on the couch. “I know your mom left today. Bucky didn’t want you to be alone and neither did I, so here we are.”

“I can do this,” said Steve softly, as though trying to convince himself.

“Yeah, but you don’t have to do it alone,” said Phil. “And maybe it’s partially selfish of me, but those kids are all I have left of my sister. I want to be near them.”

Steve looked over at Phil and saw, really saw, for the first time since Peggy had died, that Phil was just as heartbroken. Steve had lost his wife but Phil had lost his sister. They had all lost someone very important and irreplaceable.

“Hey, I’m sorry,” said Phil. “I miss her too. We all do. And I don’t doubt that you can raise those boys on your own, that’s not what I want you to think. I just want to help.”

“Well, I’ll need all the help I can get,” sighed Steve. “Clint is doing well, he’s sad and misses his mom but he likes taking care of his little brothers, so that helps. And Peter’s too young to understand. But Tony, I don’t know, I’m at a loss. He hasn’t spoken since the accident.”

“He was there, he saw his mother die,” said Phil, his voice choked up. “He’ll come around. He needs time.”

Steve nodded. For a time, the two men sat in silence on that couch, just staring off into space, thinking their own thoughts about the same situation.

“I didn’t think I’d be a widow at thirty,” whispered Steve.

“I didn’t either,” said Phil.

\- Full House – 

Upstairs Clint was bouncing around, showing Bucky all of his books. Tony sat on Clint’s bed, watching silently. It unnerved Bucky to see the kid so quiet. Before, Tony would have been all over the place, hanging off of Bucky’s arm, talking a mile a minute. Bucky had held Tony throughout the funeral and the kid hadn’t cried, just leaned against his chest and watched with wide eyes. Steve had taken comfort during the funeral in cuddling his youngest with his arm around Clint’s shoulders. It had been an awful day and Bucky had hoped in vain that things would settle down and Tony would emerge from his shell after.

Peter was happily sitting in his bouncer, bouncing away.

“Uncle Bucky, you can stay in here with me and we can have sleepovers!” said Clint. “It’ll be great!”

“Thanks for the offer, buddy, but I think that Tony is going to be moving in here with you and I’m going to be in his room,” said Bucky.

“I have to share with Tony?” said Clint, wrinkling his nose.

“You were so excited to share with me a minute ago,” reminded Bucky.

“Yeah, but that’s because you’re fun,” said Clint. “Tony doesn’t like to play right now. Dad says he’ll play eventually but he doesn’t even talk.”

“Tony, do you want to go see your daddy?” asked Bucky.

Tony just got up quietly and left the room. Bucky sat down next to Clint on the floor.

“Talk to me,” said Bucky.

“I’m happy you’re here,” said Clint. “But everything’s changing. Tony’s not fun anymore. I don’t want to share a room with him. It’ll just remind me that Mom’s gone and that’ll make me sad again.”

“It’s okay to be sad,” said Bucky quietly. “I’m sad too. Your dad is sad and Tony is sad. Uncle Phil is sad. Your mom is a wonderful lady and she’s very important to everyone in this house. You’re going to miss her and that’s okay.”

“But I don’t want to be silent like Tony!”

“Honey, Tony is silent because he was in a really scary situation,” said Bucky, wrapping his arm around Clint’s shoulders. “Tony was in the car when the accident happened. Right now he’s really sad and scared. That’s why he’s not talking. Everyone handles grief differently. I don’t think you’re the type to go silent.”

“I just really miss her,” whispered Clint, snuggling closer to Bucky.

“We all do,” said Bucky in an equally soft tone. “We’re here so we can miss her together.”


	2. Stepping Out Into the World

A week later they had all settled in as much as they could, Phil in his new room, the old guest room, Bucky in Tony’s old bedroom, Tony moved in to Clint’s room. After his breakdown with Bucky, Clint had taken on the approach that his little brother was scared and therefore needed a protector. Where Tony went, so did Clint. It would have been adorable if it wasn’t so heartbreaking.

“Boys, I have to go back to work today,” said Steve as they all ate breakfast. “And Clint, you have to go back to school.”

“I know Dad,” said Clint, rolling his eyes. “We’ve talked about this like, a million times.”

“I know, I know, I just want to make sure you’re ready. You don’t have to go back if you’re not ready. You only have a few weeks left and your teachers have said that you’re fine if you just want to wait. They can send your work here for you to work on.”

“I know, but I want to go back to school. I miss my friends.”

“Steve, it’ll be fine,” said Phil, wiping Peter’s face as the boy babbled happily in his high chair. “Clint will call us if he changes his mind. I know this is hard, but he will be fine.”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine!” said Clint. “Is Tony coming to school too?”

“No, Tony is going to stay home,” said Steve. “He’ll go back to school next year.”

“I thought Tony loved school,” muttered Clint. “He should probably go back. It made him happy and he’s not happy here.”

“Tony will go back to school next fall,” repeated Steve. “Now, finish up and grab your bag, I’ll drive you.”

Clint hugged everyone at the table and waved goodbye before leaving with his dad.

“Alright, just the two of us and two kids, we can handle this,” said Bucky. 

“Don’t forget that Tony has his appointment in an hour,” said Phil. “I’ll take him if you want to stay here with Peter.”

“Sounds good,” said Bucky. “What do you think Tony? Want to go out with Uncle Phil?”

Tony shrugged.

“We should get going soon since we have to take the bus,” said Phil. “Do you need help with your shoes?”

Tony shook his head and went to get his shoes on. They were his favorite, bright red with gold stripes running down the sides. He didn’t know how to tie them but Clint had tied them that morning so he could just slip them on, so it was okay. 

Tony knew he was worrying his dad and he didn’t want to, he really didn’t, but he just couldn’t bring himself to talk. He missed his mom. And the last time he had talked, he had been yelling at his mom, screaming for her to talk to him, to just say something, but she never responded and Tony knew that he couldn’t go through that again, he couldn’t have someone not respond to him.

Phil held Tony’s hand the entire journey to his appointment. It wasn’t the first time Tony had gone to see this therapist and Phil had gone with him and Steve to see how it went before having to take Tony alone. Honestly, Phil thought the whole thing was a waste of time. Tony never said anything, he just sat there and drew pictures or stared off into space, the same things he did at home.

Steve had talked to Bucky and Phil the night before, nervous about going back to work and leaving his kids so soon. It was the first time he had actually talked to them about what the therapist had said about Tony. They knew that Tony was probably depressed given how subdued he was when usually he was a bundle of eccentric energy, but Steve also told them that the therapist thought Tony had PTSD from the accident. None of them were there, the only one who knew what had actually happened was Tony and he wasn’t saying a word, so they just had to guess what the boy had seen. Steve had seen pictures of the crash but by the time he had reached the hospital, his wife had been dead for hours and Tony hadn’t spoken in just as long. Steve was still furious that it had taken so long to alert him about the accident.

“Alright Tony, I’ll just be right here,” said Phil, sitting down on a chair out of the way while Tony went to the little table he always sat at.

“Go ahead Tony, I’m going to talk to your uncle for a moment,” said Dr. Sam. 

Tony didn’t really acknowledge either of them but he did start drawing, so the adults started to talk softly.

“He hasn’t spoken still,” said Phil.

“Give it time,” said Dr. Sam with a kind smile. “Now, I was actually wondering if you had a moment to talk. I understand that Peggy is your sister. How are you doing?”

“As well as can be expected,” said Phil curtly. “I didn’t expect for my sister to die so young and I miss her every day but I have a family to help take care of and who take care of me.”

“It must be difficult to be helping care for your nephews.”

“They’re good boys.”

“Well, if you ever find yourself needing someone to talk to I want you to know that I have several colleagues who specialize in adults who I could recommend.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” said Phil with a forced smile.

Dr. Sam nodded his head even though he could tell that Phil didn’t mean it. There was nothing more he could do for the man who didn’t want help. He let Phil know there were options and would just have trust the man to make the appropriate choice for him. For now, Sam’s focus was Tony. He left Phil in his seat and went to talk to the young boy.

Sam didn’t say anything right away, just pulled a sheet of paper towards him and started drawing his own picture, watching Tony out of the corner of his eyes. Sam really liked the kid, Tony was smart and thoughtful and so terribly sad, Sam genuinely hoped he could help him.

When he finished, Tony offered Dr. Sam his picture.

“Thank you for letting me look at your picture Tony,” said Dr. Sam with a smile. “Would you like to tell me about it?”

Tony shook his head.

Dr. Sam nodded and looked at the picture with Tony. It was a house, all drawn using a black crayon. The other crayons were left alone on the table. Tony only ever used the black crayon.

“Is this your home?” asked Dr. Sam.

Tony nodded.

“Is this for me or would you like to keep it?”

Tony pointed at Dr. Sam.

“Thank you very much, Tony,” said Dr. Sam, setting the drawing on the desk. “May I show you my picture?”

Tony nodded, a bit more eagerly than before. He always liked it when Dr. Sam shared things with him.

“This is a drawing of the people I live with,” said Dr. Sam, showing Tony his own drawing. He wasn’t particularly good at drawing but he was good enough to impress little kids. “That’s me right there. And that’s my dog Lucky. He likes to go on walks and eats all the food that drops down. That’s all the people who live with me.”

Tony looked at Dr. Sam strangely. Didn’t the doctor know that dogs weren’t people?

At the end of the appointment, Dr. Sam gave Phil a card for a colleague of his. Phil put it in his pocket and left with Tony.

“We really need to get a car,” sighed Phil as they waited for the bus in the rising heat.

Tony shook his head but Phil wasn’t looking so he didn’t see, nor did he notice the stiffening and panic starting to consume the young boy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My dog likes to sleep on his back. That's all.
> 
> Always,  
> Ari


	3. In the Dark

It was well after midnight when Clint woke up to a soft sniffing and someone tapping him on the shoulder.

Tony stood next to him, tears streaming down his cheeks, his sleep pants wet.

“Did you have a bad dream?” asked Clint with a yawn.

Tony nodded.

“Okay,” Clint said, getting up and holding Tony’s hand.

It wasn’t the first time Clint had been woken up by Tony having an accident in the middle of the night. Clint took him to the bathroom and turned on the light. 

“Do you want to tell me about it?” asked Clint, just like he did every time, not expecting an answer because Tony hadn’t answered in the month and a half since their mom died.

Clint helped Tony take off his pants and underwear before starting the sink, letting the water warm up before he attempted to get the washcloth wet. Clint knew he could get his dad or one of his uncles but he never did. Tony came to him, so Clint wanted to help.

“Mommy didn’t answer,” whispered Tony.

Clint froze, his hand still on the tap.

“Mommy didn’t answer,” repeated Tony, just as softly, as though afraid the white tiled walls would stop him if he spoke too loudly. “I yelled and she didn’t say anything.”

Clint looked over at Tony, eyes wide.

“Was she mad I yelled?” asked Tony. “Is that why she didn’t answer?”

“No,” said Clint instantly. He didn’t know how to assure at four year old that his dead mother not answering wasn’t his fault but he knew how to comfort his brother. “Tony that wasn’t your fault. Mommy wasn’t mad at you.”

“But I yelled. I was really scared and she didn’t do anything.”

“Let’s get you cleaned up and we can go sleep with Daddy,” said Clint. “Okay? Daddy will know how to fix this.”

“He’s going to be so mad that I yelled.”

“No he won’t,” said Clint, gently wiping down Tony’s legs before pulling out a pull up from under the sink. “He’s going to be so happy you’re talking he won’t care that you yelled.”

Tony nodded, his thumb slipping into his mouth. Clint took his other hand and together they walked to their dad’s room. Tony was reluctant to enter but Clint pulled him along until they were at the king sized bed. Clint lifted Tony onto the bed before climbing up himself. Steve woke to the mattress jostling as the two boys got comfortable.

“What’s going on?” mumbled Steve, turning on his bedside lamp.

His two older sons looked up at him, Tony mostly naked and Clint with tears in his eyes, holding Tony’s hand.

“Tony, tell Daddy why you’re scared,” whispered Clint after a minute of silence.

“I yelled at Mommy and she didn’t answer,” sobbed Tony.

“Oh baby,” sighed Steve, both overjoyed at Tony speaking and devastated at what his son had to say.

Without pause he gathered both boys into his arms, Tony in his lap and Clint against his side. The three of them cried together until eventually, one by one, they all fell asleep, curled up in a pile with the light on in a vain attempt to banish the darkness.

**Author's Note:**

> I've been playing with this idea for a year now. It doesn't quite fit in the "Adopted Tony" series because Tony is not adopted but he is a kid. Idk if I should include it or not.
> 
> Always,  
> Ari


End file.
